Municipal alert services and social networks may provide information and/or alerts about security threats or concerns in a particular local area. Traditional home security systems operate according to one or more operation modes that are set by a user. For example, a conventional security system may be “armed” when a user leaves his or her home, in which an alarm will be sounded if the home perimeter is breached prior to the system being placed in an “unarmed” mode. That is, traditional home security systems operate according to a set mode of operation, and do not change operation mode based on other external factors such as alerts about security threats transmitted by municipal alert services or social networks.